Alfeed leighton



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Be' it known that I, ALFRED LEIGHTON, 0f`9 Buckingham street, Strand, inthe county of Middlesex, a subject ofthe Queen of Great Brita-in, haveinvented or discovered new and useful Improvements'in Printing and inApparatus employed thereing and I, the said ALFRED 'LEIGHTOBL do herebydeclare the nature of the .said invention, and in what manner the sameis to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in andby the following statement thereof, that is to say:

This invention has for its object improvements in printing and inapparatus employed therein, and is appli` cable more especially iuornamenting or lettering articles of which the ,surface is not flat butcurved or irregular. The printing surface consists of a flexible elasticsheet, with the device to be printed raised upon it, and this, havingbeen suitably inked, is pressed by fluid pressure against the article tobe printed. I employ a sheet of vulcanized India rubber, moulded withthe pattern upon it, and it is mounted over a perforated plate, whichsupports it whilst the inl:v is applied. There is a chamber under theperforated plate containing air or other fluid, and means are providedfor putting this air or iiuid under pressure when desired; it may be byforcing a plunger into the chamber, or by opening a valve communicatingwith another vessel containing fluid under ypressure or otherwise. i

The article to be printed is placed in a suitable holder. Usually it isconvenient to fit it into a suitablyformed recess in a wooden board,hinged to the other parts of the apparatus, and when thus held Athearticle is brought into proper position over the pattern on the llexiblesheet, and there secured. lhe fluid beneath the llexiblc sheet is thenput under pressure, and the pattern surface is thus caused to presssufficiently firm against and print it.

Having thus stated the nature of my invention, I will proceed more fullyto describe the manner of peral forming the same.

. Description of the Drawings.

Figure l shows a longitudinal section of apparatus suitable for carryingout my invention.

.Figure 2shows a front elevation thereofg, and

Figure .3 shows a plan of the upper parts when opened out.

- a a isa plate of vulcanized India rubber, which material, by reason ofits great flexibility and elasticity, is the material ll prefer toemploy in constructing the printing surface. The vulcanizableIndia-rubber compound is moulded and vulcanized in a suitable mould,with the lettering or the other device or devices thereon. It should bestated that it is not new to produce and usc printing surfaces formed ofvulcanized India rubber; but according to this invention such a printingsurface is combined Ywith the pressure of iuid on its back or reverseside, by which the printing surface is made to apply itself and give olfits impressions to irregular surfaces, and again and again assume aregular form when having printing ink applied thereto. b is a perforatedplate, on which the surface a is supported when being inked. The inkingsurface a a is as heretofore. c is a tube, com municating with a vesselor chamber, d, and with the space below the perforatedplate bf Thevessel or chamber ol' may contain air or water or other liuid, so that.when subjected to pressure the fluid may act on all parts of theiiexible plate a a, and cause it to apply itself to an irregularsurface. I, however, prefer to employ air for the purpose. The apparatusshown in the drawings is arranged suitably for printing a pattern upon abottle or vessel, c e, of thin metal. The apparatus'may be arranged fol`printing in like manner upon other articles of Varied form, theparts ofthe apparatus used for holding the article to be printed being variedaccordingly. f is a plunger, which slides duid-tight at f! intoand fromthe chamber cZ; or other means may be resorted to for givingtherequisite pressure to the fluid contained in the vessel d. Motionisto'be communicated to the plunger f in any convenient manner. Thearrangement shown in the drawing is, however, very convenient for thispurpose. f2 is a shaft or axis, which has a`lever handle, f3, fixedthereon, and also two arms, f4, which, by links or conncctingrods,f5,give'motion to the plunger f when the lever handle is moved. The articleto be printed is held in a sort of frisket or folding holder, whichconsists of two parts, g g', which are hinged together, and to the frameL 7L, which carries the other parts of thc mechanism, and such parts, gg', are formed ina suitable manner to receive and hold the article to beprinted. In the arrangement shown, where the article to be printed 'is abottle, the part g is recessed to receive it, whilst the part g has ahole through it of suitable dimensions to present a suiicient part ofthe surface to be printed. This part g', when necessary, may be oflexible and elastic material, xed at its edges in a frame. In fig. 1 ofthe drawings, the parts are shown as they would appear immediatelybefore and immediately after the plunger is raised, the printing surfacebeing flat on the perforated plate, so that, on causing the plungcrtorise from its position in lig. 1, the uid will be caused to press on thelower or reverse side of the flexible and elastic printing surface.

Having thus described the nature of my invention, and the manner ofperforming the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is-The combined arrangement of a flexible'elastic printing surface a,'witha chamber or vessel containing fluid, which, on being subjected topressure, is caused to :1ct on the printing surface, substantially asdescribed.

ALFRED LEIGHTON.

Witnesses:

THOS' BROWN No. 1T Gracechurch Street, London. J. LAKE,

